It was a fitting finale for India when Saina Nehwal claimed the badminton gold coming from a matchpoint down to ensure that the hosts finished ahead of England in the gold count. Saina's golden display was a fine example of resilience, courage, attitude and grace under pressure - qualities that you would attribute to the Indian women.

Despite being dubbed as the weaker sex - even more so in India, where the female infanticide rate is worryingly high - the athletes, most of them hailing from rural areas, have managed to cross every hurdle, winning 37 of the 101 medals won by India. The only blemish, perhaps, to this staggering display must be the positive drug test of 20km race walker Rani Yadav but it did not in any way take the sheen off the women's contingent.

Kavita Raut, hailing from the tribal belt in interior Maharashtra, fetched India's first ever individual female track medal at the CWG, taking the 10,000m bronze, and that opened the medal floodgates.

Krishna Poonia led an unprecedented clean sweep of all the women's discus medals, becoming the country's second Indian athlete after Milkha Singh (1958, Cardiff) to garner a gold in track and field events. Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil bagged the silver and bronze to show that Indian female power has come to the fore, literally.

The icing was applied on the cake when the women's 4x400m relay team of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur added another gold in a memorable race, beating strong teams likes Nigeria and England.

In the wrestling arena, experienced Alka Tomar, hailing from Meerut's Sisoli village, showed great presence of mind and a solid defensive game to win the 59kg freestyle women's wrestling while Anita and Geeta also joined the party. The image of 10m air pistol pair Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu strutting their stuff in the Wednesday morning paper was a memorable one. Really, it was one of several.

Krishna Poonia (Discus Throw) Krishna, a farmer's daughter who spent her childhood milking buffaloes, ignored a back injury to fetch a CWG gold in athletics after 52 years. It was an emotional moment when Krishna, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil stood on the podium after a clean sweep of the medals.

Geeta (Wrestling 55kg Freestyle) The final scoreline read 11-0 as the 21-year-old wrestler from Haryana pinned down her Australian opponent for the gold. All muscle but not lacking in movement, the youngster proved that all hopes pinned on her was not in vain. Her sister Babita won silver in the 51kg category.

Deepika Kumari (Archery, Recurve) Her father drives an auto while her mother is an aaya, but things may soon change now that Deepika has served the world a notice of purpose and potency. It was her unflinching hunger that spelt success in the archery range.

Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur (4x400m relay) The quartet clocked 3:27.77s, less than a second outside the National record but it was enough to secure gold. The third leg proved to be the decisive one, with Ashwini making up almost 10 metres to pass on the baton at the same time as her Nigerian opponent.

Anita (Wrestling, Women's 67kg Freestyle) Anita upset a Commonwealth champion from Canada to mark the biggest achievement of her career. The 25-year-old head constable with Haryana Police played the waiting game to perfection and surprised with her deft footwork.

Anisa Sayyed (25m Pistol, Shooting) The Kolhapure woman's new gun bought with help from her husband's company cleared the customs just in time. She was weighed down by expectations, but her supreme confidence saw her through.

Anisa Sayyed and Rahi Sarnobat (Women's 25m Pistol (Pairs) Shooting) The young duo held their pistols with a dash of grace, standing out in both the precision and rapid rounds to set a championship record.

Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh (10m Air Pistol (Pairs) Shooting) Lady luck smiled on petite Heena, just 20, and confident Annu, 23, as the two joined hands to steal a gold. in the women's 10metre Air Pistol. Both India and Australia had the same number of perfect hits – 21. The Indian pair were declared winners on the countback.

Deepika Kumari, L Bombayala Devi and Dola Banerjee (Archery, Recurve Team) The premonitions weren't good but Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and L Bombayala Devi staged a brilliant fightback and conjured up a magical moment by winning India's first-ever CWG gold in archery when they beat England in the women's team recurve final.

Renu Bala Chanu (Weightlifting, 58kg) She trained three times a day and even during the night. Renu proved that hard work had its rewards when she won the event for the second successive time, lifting 7 kg more this time.

Alka Tomar (Wrestling, 59kg) Alka, a favourite for gold medal, was facing a toughie in the form of Canadian Olympic medallist Tonya Verbeek. But the Indian, a former world champion-ship and Asian Games bronze winner was in the zone – her inspirations being "God and Sushil Kumar".

Saina Nehwal (Badminton) The favourites tag can be very heavy, but Saina ignored the pressure to claim India's first individual badminton gold after a gap of 28 years. Moreover, she came from matchpoint down against Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong. Awesome!

THEY CAME CLOSE

The women won 12 silver medals out of the 27 won by India. The badminton mixed doubles was shared by the two sexes, of course. Women also claimed 12 out of the 36 bronze medals won.

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